My hemorrhoidectomy story

Hello. I have read a lot of stories recently about people's hemorrhoidectomy procedures and healing experiences.
I wanted to tell mine a bit, because quite frankly I'm amazed at how tame mine has been in terms of pain and complications.
I'm a 23 year old female, never had children, and have had two internals for a long time. I was lucky to experience no pain with them, but I did have to look at the Prolapsed hem every day. Even though I experienced no pain, no bleeding, and no discomfort, it ruled my life. My anxiety kept me focused on it, and I felt broken, gross and I couldn't look at my backside without getting depressed. Creams, natural remedies and diet changes did nothing to help my problem. It never got worse, but it never got better.
I finally had an appointment with the general surgeon, and he easily performed banding on my two internals. The first two days was uncomfortable, I felt the pressure all the time and couldn't sit at all. Two days after the procedure, during a BM, I felt a pop and immediately the pressure I felt from the band was gone. The Prolapsed hem that had been pulled up inside by the band now protruded again. It was big, Swollen, and very painful. I had to wait all weekend until the Dr opened. I frantically called the surgeon the following Monday, worried that my band had come off prematurely. They brought me in immediately.
My Dr had told me that the band had come off properly and there was no hem. Just swelling. I had a panic attack and asked him if he was looking at the same anus as I was. He was going to Send me home and check back in five weeks. I insisted he resolve my problem right then and there because I couldn't have it control me anymore. He offered another banding, but because of the swelling, the hem would be positioned outside of the anus and I would have to deal with it being visible as it died off. I refused. He then offered to surgically remove it. I agreed swiftly.
So I hopped up on the OT and he gave me local anesthesia. Within 10 mins I was cut and stitched up, and on my way with pain med and stool softeners. I could see the incision a couple centimeters in length from the opening of my anus and up my crack a bit.
The pain I experienced after the anesthesia wore off was excruciating. I couldn't move, I was constantly bleeding, and I could feel the ache all the way up my tailbone. I managed a Sitz bath that night to ease a bit of the pain and only took a few pain meds. The bleeding had eased up a bit by the time I went to bed.
I did not have a BM til two days after the procedure. I was so nervous about it, I think that's why it took that long. The pain wasn't unbearable, and I was able to get through it without much bleeding. It was easy to clean up.
By day 4 i was only taking one pain med in the morning, just in case. By this time I was back at work easily walking and moving and sitting. I had some area bruising that made my whole anus purple. By day 5 the pain was mostly gone, BM were easy, and I didn't bleed much after them anymore. I had been doing two Sitz baths a day for the comfort and to promote healing.
It is now 11 days after surgery, and bruising is all gone. BM is a breeze. I have no swelling, no pain whatsoever.
The only thing I am now worried about, is my wound. It seems to be healing nicely, but with one problem, and I've been searching for answers. I'll try and describe it as best as I can.
Immediately after procedure and for the first week, I could not see stitches. Now, while inspecting the wound two days ago, I noticed I could see the wound opening a bit, and I could see every stitch. It's like they have not been very successful holding the wound together. I'm afraid this means when the stitches desolve and the wound continues to heal, it won't heal closed up completely. Rather, it will heal as a cleft, so to speak. I have been a tiny bit careless at work, and I have lifted some boxes. I also haven't been extremely careful with how I sit because I don't feel pain. But I'm worried I've made my healing more complicated.
Has anyone else experienced this?
I just, can't put it out of my mind because of the anxiety. I know I should just be patient and wait a bit longer to see how we progress, but it's hard to not worry.
If anyone has any similar experience and success afterwards, please share to ease my mind.
Otherwise, this story I wanted to share, because as much as the first few days sucked, it wasn't a nightmare. I have my followup appointment in about three weeks. So I will go from there!

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ybanks522310520 over a year ago

I know many people go through excruciating pain with a hemorrhoidectomy. Most of the patients I know of have the most miserable month of pain following the surgery. My mother had it done when I lived at home, and every day I wished I lived somewhere else! She was constantly saying her bottom hurt and how she wished she never had it. I am hesitant to ever have it done if I needed to have them done. I am glad that you are having a better time with your situation than most people who have had a hemorrhoidectomy. You are one of the few lucky ones.

I am rather happy with the rate of my healing and the lack of pain for the most part.
I did end up having to go to my walk in Dr, because the idea of it healing incorrectly drove me nuts with my anxiety. So I went in to have my Dr check it out. She told me everything was healing smoothly, and I need not worry. I did get some relief after that. She then suggested I put regular table salt into my Sitz bath to promote faster healing (it makes sense, that's what dentists encourage when you have a wound in your mouth that needs healing). I also asked her if Aloe gel is acceptable to use on the wound as well. She gave me the great big thumbs up and sent me on my way.
I've been soaking with warm salt water and applying Aloe afterwards twice a day. Healing is speeding up, and at my two week point, I'm pretty happy with it. Today I have a bout of constipation (I had a terribly lazy and gross weekend where I just gorged on anything I could get my hands on, and I didn't have a BM over the weekend). There is still a little bit of bleeding, but that is only because I have been trying to push myself to have a BM today. I took some stool softeners this morning and have been pounding water.
But otherwise, I'm very close to the end of my journey. The light is getting brighter and bigger, and I'm satisfied.
Not all hemorrhoidectomy procedures are hell. I feel for and understand for those who are put through the ringer with theirs, but I hope someone gets a bit of comfort from my own story.

I totally agree. I searched the web for good stories and found only one or two comparied to the hundreds of nightmare stories posted. My hemorrhoidectomy was a breeze compared to what I read. I am now four weeks post-op and I can say that I was uncomfortable a few times but no pain at all for the most part. I was on Tramacet for the first week and Extra Strength Tylenol for the following two. After that, I was off pain killers. Ice packs really helped when I got uncomfortable in the first week or two. The pain at the beginning of a bm hit maybe a level 2 or 3 out of 10. Never more than that. I never had the searing pain that people experience after the bm. I guess I got lucky too.

Hi everyone - I just had an excissional hemorrhoidectomy yesterday to remove three internals. I was extremely anxious after reading many of the stories on the Internet and my doctor telling me that the first week would be miserable. He indicated that, while I would see steady improvement over a period of weeks, it would be about 6-8 weeks before I was 100%. I wanted to let everyone know that I am 36 hours after the surgery and feeling pretty good. I obviously have some pain/discomfort, but nothing like I was expecting. In fact, the pain is not much worse than when my hemorrhoids were inflamed. While I have not yet had a bowel movement (and not really looking forward to it), overall I am pleased with how things have gone. I believe the biggest contributor for me was staying ahead of the pain. My doctor has prescribed me 600mg of Ibuprofen, Percocet and Valium. I have been religious in taking the prescriptions to stay ahead of the pain and have begun to take Mirolax and stool softeners since Percocet can constipate.

I had my surgery on Tuesday and I've had 4 BM's since. I experience no pain during my BM's and Ive considered myself pretty lucky. I haven't been using any drugs besides tylenol to manage my pain, which is very bearable. Im eating a high fiber diet, along with stool softeners and a lot of water. Ive had 2 c sections and horrible constipation in the first trimester. Ive found that the pain that came along with that was much worse than the hemi recovery. The key is to keep your stools soft as possible and only go to the bathroom when your poop is basically crowning. I had one external and a stage 3 prolapsed hemi btw.

Just an update. I've been able to have a couple of bowel movements. The first was definitely uncomfortable, but manageable. I highly recommend beginning a high fiber diet in the days leading up to your surgery and taking stool softener. After the first BM, they have gotten progressively easier. Being 72 hours post-op, I can say that if I knew this was the recovery experience I was going to have, I would have had the surgery sooner. Again, I think the key is high fiber and staying on top of your meds. Take care and be well!

Caitmh you would think I wrote this exact post! I have recently had 3 internal hemmroids banded, I am almost 3 weeks post Banding but they are still prolapsing (I am not in any pain) but my anxiety and depression from having them has put me through hell the past 6 months, I look at them everyday to see if they have gone away, and everyday I'm in tear! My surgeon has told me to come back in 6 weeks but I'm starting to think my only hope to have an enjoyable life is surgery! I know your op was 10 months ago, were you happy with the procedure and recovery? It's so good reading a positive story! I wonder if your recovery depends on how bad your haemmroids are, and how many they cut out. I've read so many horror stories.

Mine were level 4 prolapsed internal hemorrhoids and I had all 3 veins removed so it was fairly extensive. My surgeon stitched most of the incisions closed with a very small opening at the bottom of each incision for drainage. I am not sure why my recovery was pretty well pain free other than I was told I must have a high pain threshold which I find hard to believe since I can't stand having any kind of pain at any time. I did follow my doctor's instructions to the letter and added ice packs when I felt a few twinges. My doctor told me only one sitz bath a day. Of course, I had more if I had more than one BM. Otherwise, most of the suggestions here in terms of fiber, water and meds were the same. I was back at my Pilates class after 3 weeks and even went to work (I am retired and sub as a school principal) 10 days post op.

Danni thank you so much for your reply! Means the world to me! Think I am going to bite the bullet and have it done, I live in Australia and was advised no surgeons perform closed haemmroidctomy, only open, where are you from?

I am in Canada. Ask around, you might be able to find one that does a closed surgery. For example, I asked to have a spinal rather than a general anesthetic and my surgeon agreed even though he told me that he did this with people normally being asleep. You might be able to find a doctor willing to use a different technique.